Up To The Task?
In the beginning of the second book of The Republic of Plato, Glaucon and Adeimantus both issue challenges to Socrates regarding justice. The first challenge issued is Glaucon's. Glaucon asks of Socrates that he prove that, "it is in every way better to be just than unjust" (35). Glaucon then takes up Thrasymachus' argument and furthers it with a description of the perfectly just and the perfectly unjust man, and the tale of the ring of Gyges. Adeimantus contributes to Glaucon's challenge, saying to Socrates, "So, don't only show us by the argument that justice is stronger than injustice, but show what each in itself does to the man who has it-whether t is noticed by gods and human beings or not-that makes the one good and the other bad" (44). To answer the brothers' challenge, Socrates states that it would be better for them to find justice in a city than to find it in an individual. Thus, Socrates creates the city
of sows, and the city of the guardians. In the feverish city, the citizens have the choice of being unjust. Therefore, to create justice in the feverish city, Socrates purifies it, and creates a class of "guardians" to protect the city from both enemies without and the unjust within. Socrates then examines the purified city and shows that, through specific types of education, that the purified city is a just one. Glaucon and Adeimantus are satisfied by this argument, and seem to accept that Socrates has met their initial challenge, but he has not done so. In book III, Socrates makes a point to say that, even among the guardians, there are some who love the city more than others, and are, therefore, more in harmony with the common good, a concept that returns at the end of book IV when Socrates suggests that a philosopher king would be such a person. The implications of Socrates statement in book III should greatly affect Glaucon and
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 637
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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